Isn’t he a beauty with a butterfly crown? I just learned this Is process called Lechryphagy in which certain insects like #butterflies drink #crocodile tears for salts and proteins. And, some serious “side-eye”. Isn’t inspiration from nature amazing? I find it seriously fascinating….

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I can’t stop thinking in that crocodiles head they are thinking “I’m a very delicate flower”. Haha. . .

And, of course I need inspiration from a few amazing cookbooks. So, cookbook crazy…

And, it’s making me hungry and thirsty. Luckily, I’m dedicated to getting back in shape (day 4 this week at the gym. So yumminess will have to wait! For now!) Favorite sexy food? Favorite sexy cookbooks? Tell me everything…🍏🍎🍋🍊

I have never had enough space in my closet. Not because there’s too many clothes (okay, there’s some clothes) but, because it’s a house that was built in the 50’s with extra small closet spaces.

I finally had enough of not being able to see what I had for the seasons! This was a quick and easy DYI project that will get me back to seeing what I already have. And, more importantly what I can add!

I personally looked on Craiglist for any of the items I had to gather. The wood was here and the casters were a successful Craiglist find. The rest is at your local hardware store. The piping exists in different sizes and can be cut and threaded to easily screw into your elbow pieces. Truth be told there was 3 Home Depot trips to find out the cutter/threader was broken and I’m suspecting because someone ran the machine untrained and broke it. 3 stores! After a return Lowes finally got it done. I suggest calling ahead. Save yourself all the driving and frustration.

There is a lot of screwing together and down. Easy for someone moderately handy. The casters at a discount cut the total project cost quite a bit.

Overall, the cost to make this should be roughly between &80.00-$100.00 depending on where you get and gather your materials.

What you will need:

4 casters- 3″or 4″

2 pipes galvanized or black @ 60″

1 pipe galvanized or black @41″

2 matching metal anchor discs

4 1×5 wood planks 44″ in length. Your width will be roughly 20 3/4″. You can modify all of this by shortening you planks and cross bat accordingly.

2 1×5 20 3/4 cross planks

Screws

Assemble your platform with your boards and cross planks by screwing down 2 screws per board. Once solid, flip over and screw down your 4 casters. This is not a skateboard. Don’t be silly. Now flip back over and screw on anchor discs. Your ready to add your vertical threaded pipes. Secure these and twist in tightly. Okay, screw in your cross bar. And, you have your new industrial chic clothing rack! You could get even more creative by adding a shelf at the top or I the platform. Modifications could be awesome.

I think it looks more extensive and more expensive then it actually is! What do you think? Would you have one of these in your space?

I can now properly get ready for my fall and winter wardrobe the right way. At least that’s a bonus. 😉

Have you ever had that moment you have to choose up or down? I literally had to choose up or down today. I took my rambunctious son to the local county fair, in my old home town. Just he and I, and I didn’t know I would be doing such choosing but, there I was on the narrow stairs stuck with a flood of little people coming at me. It was go up or fight the flood down. I choose up…

So, the climb started because my kiddo lost his blanket a quarter of the way down for the tall slide. There was no one at the top to help him and I started to think he was going to be stuck. He was panicking a bit. So, before think how stuck I would be I started up. With no blanket.

In me middle of the climb, he rushed by me and was coming down the slide. Ha. Luckily, his little friend was coming back up and somehow I convinced her to take me down with her double. Cotton candy, lemonade and purse in tow. I forgot how fun…

Have you been wondering about this whole cold brew coffe trend? I have and I generally, along with most of you, need caffeine in my day. I picked up a few to see what all the hype was about exactly. I wanted to know.

What is Cold Brew Coffee?

Cold brew, or cold water extract, refers to the process of steeping coffee grounds in room temperature or cold water for an extended period. Cold brew coffee is not to be confused with iced coffee, which generally refers to coffee that is brewed hot and then chilled by pouring over or adding ice, though iced coffee can refer to cold brew coffee served on ice.

Now I needed to know. What does cold brew coffee taste like?

I grabbed a few at the local Met Market including the “everywhere” Stumptown Cold Brew original, the dairy free coconut version from Stumptown as well, High Brew from California and Tony’s Organic chocolate from Smith Brothers Farm.
The Tonys was creamy, something like chocolate milk with a coffee kick. Same goes for the Stumptown coconut, creamy sweet coffee goodness. I love coconut, and don’t mind the ‘non-dairy’. The High Brew was salted caramel flavor…come on, yes! It was a little more intense and I didn’t get a full grip on the salted caramel flavor. It was a booster for sure though. The Stumptown original packed the most coffee punch, watch out, you can go too far!! All interesting, all pretty darn tasty. I feel like I have fulfilled my curiosity once and for all. And, found a few local companies in the process.

So, after all this I wondered maybe like you too, can I make my own. Yes, yes you can. If you don’t want to drop thefough all the time and just simply have it on hand it’s fairly painless to try. Here’s the scoop…

Making your own Cold Brew…

Take one cup of beans and grind them. Go for a medium to large grind preferably. Fresh is best but, store bought works too.

Next: Just add water and stir

Place the grounds in a large mason jar 40 ounces or larger jar or pitcher with airtight lid, and add 4 cups cool water. I have my canning jars lying around for this, easy peesy. Try to use filtered water if possible! And give it a good stir. Make sure and mix the two together well…

Finally: Put the lid on and sit it somewhere out of direct light/sun. And there it will sit at least 6 but, up to 12 hours.

Strain, a French press work great or mesh or fine strainer. You can pour over ice and add cream and simple as that you have made a coffee concentrate. It packs a punch. So, watch out! But, delicious for Summer and I think could be added to all sorts of recipes from baking to drinks!

That’s it. I feel more knowledgeable and hopefully I have upped your coffee game too. I wanna hear what you think when you try these or making your own! Let me know. Have I missed your favorites? Come on! Share with me!!

Ever had Cheeks? Halibut cheeks. Get your minds out of the gutter. Geez.

Anyway, I found them at fish market. And, they aren’t always available. Oh boy but, when they are. Yes, yes and yes.

Seattle weather has been hot. Like 90s hot. And, the last thing I wanted to do was turn onthe oven. This worked for this fish but, why not others? We have all Summer people.

Start with the foil, throw in some fresh veggies. These, are snap peas and onions then I added some chopped garlic, olive oil, capers, a little lemon squeeze, topped it with a bit of yummy, yummy Dungeness crab and sealed up that sucker for 15 on the BBQ! Hello delicious!

It was truly outstanding and didn’t add one ounce of heat to the already hot little box called home, that was happening that day. I assume we will have a few more of those to come…

Try it you love it and let me know what you think, how it was and what you used!

For those following along with the #backyardoasis project. Here are some new photos of the facade.

It has received a new deck, I found a cute little porch light on Craigslist some months back and we updated it to black. It got some stairs finally and some brick skirting. I think it’s coming along quite nicely. Are you working on any backyard updates or plans for your Summer?